Chapter 183: Mysterious Boy

"Ah... I certainly can’t live that way. Of course, humans and monsters have different ways of thinking, but if someone is in trouble, I wants to help as much as he can. If there is something I can do for someone, even if it puts me at a disadvantage, I would probably accept it depending on the situation..."

[ At present, I am your tamed monster. If someone appears who gets in your way, all you have to do is give me a single order to eliminate them. Yet you refuse to even do that and simply leave me sitting around with nothing to do. I had become your tamed monster prepared to be worked to the bone, but this is just a waste of my abilities. Give me more work. I am so bored I can hardly stand it. ]

What a workaholic!

[ If you want, I could go destroy an entire city right now. ]

That’s too dangerous, so absolutely not!

"I didn’t make you my tamed monster so you could do something like that. I’ve told you from the beginning, I just want to become friends with you. I don’t want to force you into submission and make you obey me. I only agreed to the tamed monster contract because I was told it would be safer for you.

If you’re willing to get along with us like this, I wouldn’t even mind if we had never made a tamed monster contract in the first place."

[ Hmm. You really are a strange one, Master. ]

"Then again, I thinks Long is plenty strange himself. Isn’t the reason you’re trying to learn our language because you’ve experienced this world and started wanting to interact with more people?"

[ Wha!? Of course not! I only decided to learn your language because you people can’t understand mine, so I had no choice... ]

"Yes, yes, that’s right. You had no choice but to work hard at learning our language. Thank you, Long. You’re such a hard worker."

"Gnn..."

Long made a face as though he had bitten into something bitter, then turned his head away.

Whatever Long’s true intentions were, Qiu Nuoya was happy to see that he was making an effort to interact more with them.

[ Well, anyway! If there is no work, then I want food and alcohol! If there is none of those either, then I am going to sleep! ]

With that, Long flopped down in the back of the wagon and lay there.

He was probably only pretending to sleep.

If Long genuinely hated being here, he would probably order Qiu Nuoya in that usual haughty tone to send him back to the paradise of monsters. Qiu Nuoya could tell that, at the very least, Long had developed some interest in this world.

"The city we’re heading to is famous for its delicious food. Let’s enjoy some good food together when we get there, Long."

Long did not respond to Qiu Nuoya’s words, but his tail swayed happily.

Qiu Nuoya took that as his answer.

Ever since Long had joined them on their journey, monsters had stopped approaching the wagon altogether. Their already peaceful journey had become even more peaceful, and without encountering any trouble along the way, they finally reached the shores of Cider Lake.

During the roughly ten day journey, they had plenty of free time, so they spent it teaching Long how to speak. As a result, Long’s ability to communicate had improved considerably. He was not yet perfectly fluent, but they could now understand each other quite well.

Long had understood their language from the beginning. The only problem had been whether he could actually pronounce the words himself, so it probably would not be long before he could speak fluently.

Cider Lake was a fairly large lake. Although they had reached its shores, they had not yet arrived in the city itself. Qiu Nuoya expected them to reach the city sometime that evening.

Just then, Long suddenly looked toward the lake and muttered something.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"Ma... magic... ma... presence... of magic..."

"What? A dragon!?"

"No."

Long slowly shook his head.

"Monster... Hmm... strong... power... presence."

"A presence of strong power? But not a monster?"

"Don’t know... but... different... from living thing."

With that, Long stared intently at the lake. He then jumped down from the wagon, transformed back into his dragon form, and took off into the sky before Qiu Nuoya could even say another word.

"Wait! Long! You can’t do that!"

[ I’ll be right back. ]

Long’s dragon form was enormous. He had not flown toward the city of Cider Orchard, but Qiu Nuoya could not help worrying that people in the city might spot him anyway.

However, despite Qiu Nuoya’s concern, Long returned almost immediately, just as he had promised.

That was good. That was certainly good.

Except Long was carrying something in his mouth and whatever it was appeared to be alive, struggling frantically between his jaws.

The color drained from Qiu Nuoya’s face.

"Long, what did you pick up!? Is it a monster!?"

Qiu Nuoya hurriedly jumped out of the wagon. Long then casually dropped whatever he was carrying right in front of him.

It was a boy.

The boy had curled himself into a tight ball, squeezing his eyes shut. His face was deathly pale and his entire body was trembling.

The moment Qiu Nuoya realized that Long had brought back a person, his own face turned even paler.

"Long! What have you done!?"

[ I couldn’t help it. This isn’t what I wanted to pick up, but he followed me. ]

Long showed not the slightest sign of remorse as he casually transformed back into his demi-human form.

He then tried to kick the curled-up boy and send him rolling away.

Qiu Nuoya hurriedly threw himself over the boy, shielding him with his own body and stopping Long.

"Wait, wait, Long! What are you doing!? I don’t know what you were trying to pick up, but this makes you look like a highway robber!"